Zimbabwe-born Australian Dom du Toit geared up for Sydney Sevens

SHARPENING THE AXE: Zimbabwe-born Australian Dom du Toit is excited ahead of the HSBC Sydney Sevens this weekend. Photo: World Rugby

JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwe-born Australian Dom du Toit has revealed her excitement ahead of the HSBC Sydney Sevens this weekend and the desire to perform on home soil after a month that has already seen some significant announcements for Australian rugby.

Born in Maronderra before moving to Queensland at a young age, Du Toit joined the Rugby Sevens programme at the start of 2015 after a series of stunning performances at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing.

Said Du Toit on Wednesday: “Without sounding negative, I still think that there is definitely a long way to go for rugby sevens and women’s rugby sevens in particular because realistically it has taken four years of being a professional programme and an Olympic gold medal to get to where we are today.

“We also now have a new (female) CEO at Ruby Australia in Raelene Castle, which is exciting for Australian rugby, so hopefully we can see eye to eye on these issues and build a good relationship together in order to build the programme as a whole. The team that is, not me personally.”

“Since December we have had six weeks to “sharpen the axe” as Craig Twentyman, our strength and conditioning coach, likes to call it and improve our individual and team game.

“Playing sevens you very rarely get the opportunity to play in Australia, so it is always special to be able to play in front of a home crowd on home soil with your friends and family watching.

“We are definitely aiming to build on the success from Dubai and put on a clinical performance for the Aussie fans. It is also the perfect opportunity playing on home soil to prepare for the Commonwealth Games in April.”